majordad

In February 1969 I purchased my KE10 Bill Buckle Corolla S in Sydney and having now seen this the Grill tells me mine was a 68 not a 69

What a beast and rare as rocking horse poo. Funny abouth the drum brakes not being to good,they did not improve much when the Corona came into play, i had one of the first 4 on the tree Corona's in 1965 and when you hit the brakes hard it was a lottery which way the bloody thing would dive left or right. The Corona 1600S was ok discs on the front made the difference. majordad

Have look in Forums/Motorsport, thread Historic Motor Racing Grp NCKe10. Communicate with a few of the guys in the thread and you will learn a lot. majordad

[pmp16, He and the car live in Toowoomba, he bought it off me originally majordad

Boys, I traded my old 4 on the tree 65 Corona in on one of the Bill Buckle Corolla S models in 1969. It was a rocketship for it,s day and yes it dealt with many Valiant's off the lights. No LSD though. Blocks in the back and a block in the front transverse spring lowered it 1.5 inches, re welded widened 12 x 5" rims, head mods, extractors and carby work and that was it. Best little car I ever owned 104 mph genuine. majordad

Around 12 years back when I was researching a group Nc Ke11 build up which i completed but never raced I was given a guys name who worked in the Valley here in Brisbane who used to be an AMI factory driver in the late 60,s and early 70s.Since forgotten his name but he raced ke 10s, 11s and 20s and he had an album full of photos from various tracks notably Lakeside in a Ke20 which he reckoned handled better that the 10s and 11s due to slightly longer wheelbase majordad

Another option could be lowered kings or whatever + take the struts to a suspension shop and have them drop the lower spring plate say 20-30mm which will give you 50-60mm total drop and retain more suspension travel. You will need to put in some shorter shock inserts possibly Rx7 mazda will do the trick. Majordad

RX7 Fronts could do the trick, Konis did the trick on Ke11 lowered 2" + Majordad

Boys, I believe the article could refer to the Bill Buckle Corolla S a dealer modified Ke10. I bought one in 1969 came with ported and polished head, extractors, sports exaust, modified carby, bored venturi and rejetted, 1 1/2 inch lowering job with blocks and widened (5" Steelies). For there time they went like a rocket, brilliant little car loved it. I swapped the original carby which had a flat spot in it which was annoying as all get out with an adapter plate and a 36/36 Weber downdraught off a Fiat. Was not a great succes as the spindle in the thing was worn and it always ran to rich. The thing would do a genuine 104mph flat out 7000rpm in 4th. I actually spotted one here in Brisbane around 15 years back couldn,t believe it. Majordad

Macca, I am sure I have seen small single axle trailers at race meetings so don,t think it is a problem. Biggest issue will be tow ball weight you don,t want exceed the tow vehicles towbar limit. majordad

Sorry Cameron, have not been on here for a few weeks. The HQ shock was worked out by City Suspension as an option based I guess on Piston travel for ride height and rebound/valving for stiffness. No idea what formula is used to figure that out Cheers Majordad

Robert, This is the set up I had on a KE11 built some years back reversed eye flattened springs with extra leaf, fitted with Koni shocks for HQ wagon of all things. Stiff as all get out and very low as photo suggests. Set up from City Suspension here in Brisbane Majordad

Henry, Lowering the front only will look a bit odd. Back when they came out a lowering block was used on top of the transverse leaf spring that would drop it around 40mm max. Same up the back blocks will do it. These days however resetting the springs is the done thing. Flattening the front leaf will get you upto 50mm + but then you will have to replace the oil strut with an insert shocky. RX7 Mazda will fit in the tube and have the right length of piston travel. Only problem is getting the strut body and spring back in can be a bitch. When setting up the front of mine which was more than a 50mm drop had to have the coil spring reset as well. Rear same thing reset leaf springs with reverse eyes will drop it 50mm + and HQ wagon Shocks will have correct piston travel. Down side of all this is suspension travel will be so reduced it can be a very choppy ride especially with stiff shock valving. Any half decent suspension place will be able to do the job of spring reset. Cheers Majordad

Gav, Just curious about the colour, is it original ? Reason I ask i bought a new KE10 in 1969 off Bill Buckle Toyota Brookvale which was a similar blue but lighter and metallic with light beige trim. Didn,t think there was another shade of Blue available then. Mine was known as a Bill Buckle Corolla S came with widened wheels 1 1/2" lowering job (blocks) ported head extractors and some carby work 2K 1066 all from the dealer. Was an absolute beast for its day used to leave old slant 6 Valiants in its wake. With your group Nc aspirations to will find the regs will allow 13" wheels +40thou bore, pretty much open head mods and upto twin 45mm webers and KE15/17/20 discs up front. open slather on the suspension as long as transverse leaf spring is retained up front. Cheers Majordad

Around 10 years ago decided to restore a Ke11 SL found it in Victoria and shipped up to Brissy. Built it as a Group Nc historic racing project but ran out of money before I could finish the project. Sold the thing for a 3rd of my spend. I miss having it like you wouldn,t believe but fortunately the young guy that bought it looks after it like a baby. There is an old guy (like me) here in Brisbane who has a collection of KE10-17 in his backyard and I would imagine he is still sitting on them. Majordad

I bought one of these in 1971 off Freebodys Motors in Canberra, it had the dash mounted tacho, blacked out window surrounds, blackout section on the boot lid and factory extractors/headers. That was about it. Had very flimsy door skins as I remember closing the drivers door with both arms full useing my arse and putting a bloody great dent it. Majordad

Davros, With your wheel/tyre size it,s all about gearing. If you where useing original gearing i.e Gearbox/diff Ke10 then you could go to 185 50 15,s tyres size for roughly the same rolling diameter as 155 80 12,s This will keep speedo in the reasonably accurate area. However if you go the t50 gearbox route and say KE20 diff different ball game. You would have to figure the the gearing out from scratch to calculate correct tyre size Cheers Majordad WHEELS: Currently looking at which wheels I am going to run on the car. I'm going to put the hoppers stoppers front disc kit on which requires a minimum of 15" wheels to clear the calipers. I figure I probably can't go any higher than 15s, cause it will look kinda wack, and won't be legal unless I use super low profile tyres. The QLD rules state that you are not allowed to go bigger than 15mm over the diameter of the largest tyre the car came with from factory. I'm not really an expert on this, but these are my rough thoughts so far (please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong...): The stock wheels are 12" with a 155/80 tyre, which equals a total diameter of 424mm. So then based on QLD design rules, the maximum diameter wheel and tyre combo I would be allowed to run would be 439mm, which means I could upgrade to 15" wheels, with the right width/profile and still fit under this size. I was wondering what would be a good width to go with, if anyone has any recommendations. I figure I can go a 15" wheel with a 175/35 tyre, which gives a total diameter of 436mm, Or if a higher profile tyre is better, on a 15" wheel I could run a 155/40 tyre which gives a maximum diameter of 437mm. In terms of wheels I have been looking at Lenso Concept 5s or Lenso RS5s. Of course there are always Simmons but I'm not looking to front that sort of cash right now. Here is a pic of the car with photoshopped Lenso wheels:

Cameron, Are you sure it,s the floor and not the Gearbox x-member the extractors are hitting. I remember i had to cut and scallop out the g/box x-member on the KE11 to fit the extractors majordad Hi Brooke, That is great news on the 5K install. I believe I will have it rego-ed no worries with the 5K but knowing that helps. As for the motor currently I have a 5K in the sprinter with stock sprinter mounts. I have a set of pacemaker extractors and it seems due to the extra deck height on the 5K they hit the floor and since they hit the floor wont even bolt up. Have any of you guys that have restored KE1X with extractors had any issues with hitting? Also nice KE11 majordad. That car would of been a steal. Gives me more inspiration to get my KE15 on the road faster. But all in good time. Cheers Cameron

Hi guys, Nice to see you young guns get excited about the old school ke10/11. Peter Robinson was a great help to me around 7 years back when i restored fron scratch (similar to what your dad did Brooke) a KE11 initially to race in a group Nc historic division trouble was i after spending $12000 plus i ran out of budget and sold it to a good home here in Brissy for 3rd of what it cost me. Believe me Peter is your man when it comes to Ke Corolla knowledge when any of you next go in there tell him Barry Pitt says howdy from Brisbane. Pics attached Ihope Majordad